Top Law Schools

Hi! I currently go to a T30 and I'm looking to transfer to the T14, most ideally in the Chicago area because that's where I want to practice for the foreseeable future. Right now, I have about a 60% scholarship at the T30 but I'm overall pretty unhappy with my school's administration and have found the way they handle career services/employment in general to be super frustrating and counterproductive.

Stats:
- first-semester GPA: 3.775
- class rank: Top 10%

School List:
- UChicago Early Decision
- Northwestern
- UCLA Law
- UPenn Law

I'm above the 50% median on the 2020 ABA disclosures for all of these schools but I just wanted to see if anyone else had any insights/any other school suggestions! Thanks!

paneerbubba wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 04, 2021 9:09 pm

Right now, I have about a 60% scholarship at the T30 but I'm overall pretty unhappy with my school's administration and have found the way they handle career services/employment in general to be super frustrating and counterproductive.

Then stop interacting with the school administration.

What do you want from Chicago/Northwestern/Penn (UCLA makes zero sense for you) that you can't get from your current school? If you don't have an articulable answer besides some mythical "better administration," then don't transfer. You're just going to be throwing away money on something that literally has no effect on you.

Then stop interacting with the school administration.

What do you want from Chicago/Northwestern/Penn (UCLA makes zero sense for you) that you can't get from your current school? If you don't have an articulable answer besides some mythical "better administration," then don't transfer. You're just going to be throwing away money on something that literally has no effect on you.

I wish it were that simple, but unfortunately because of how late my school decided to schedule OCI, I was told by employers that I would have gotten jobs that I didn't end up getting because of when my career services office decided to schedule the interviews. Unfortunately, my school fell several ranks this year because their job placement numbers are notoriously bad and behind some of the state schools in the state they're located in. BigLaw firms seem to be overlooking us entirely. I want to go to these schools so that I have the better opportunities for better salaries, and to have the T14 school name on my resume for long-term opportunities like sitting on the federal bench one day.

TBH, I wasn't asking for advice on whether or not I should transfer because I know I want to move to Chicago with my partner if I can. The reason why UCLA is on the list is because I can also see myself working/living in California, and it seems as though my chances are better there. I was asking for any insight for my chances to get into these schools. I will be able to write a well-researched and personalized statement for these schools.

paneerbubba wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:25 am

I wish it were that simple, but unfortunately because of how late my school decided to schedule OCI, I was told by employers that I would have gotten jobs that I didn't end up getting because of when my career services office decided to schedule the interviews.

...but you're a 1L? Are you talking about OCI for 1L SAs? To the extent that exists, you were not going to get a 1L SA, regardless of when your school had interviews. And nothing prevents you from reaching out to firms outside of your school's OCI process.

That confusion aside, it may make sense to transfer for better job opportunities (again, I don't think you're going to see a difference worth giving up your scholarship, but it's your debt). Your chances seem decent at all your target schools, although you seem to have cast a very narrow net for very vague career goals. If you have ties to Chicago, you can apply much more broadly across the T13 and still get back there. If you don't have ties, then you really shouldn't transfer unless it's to Northwestern/Chicago (or maybe Michigan), because you won't be able to get back to Chicago easily from other schools without those ties.

Sounds like a good list of target schools. Why not NYU though?